Green Township becomes organized, independent in 1817

By PAUL LOCHER Staff WriterPublished: May 12, 2012 4:00AM

GREEN TWP. -- The township remained legally affiliated with East Union Township until 1816, by which time it had attained a population of 147, of which 26 were legal voters. At that time application was made to the state and Green Township was organized as a fully independent township on April 7, 1817.

The year 1817 also marked the first death of a settler in the township. It occurred on Dec. 17 when Daniel Blocher, who had settled on the northwest quadrant of section 10, was in the process of holding a raising for a round log barn with the aid of some of his neighbors.

As the party was hoisting a huge log to the roof of the barn, it broke loose, falling on the chest of Christian Partshie and crushing him to death instantly.

Partshie's body was borne to the Blocher cabin in the forest nearby. Early the next morning it was wrapped in a winding sheet by some of the women settlers, while Blocher and Phillip Leasure went to seek a burial site.

The place selected was on the northwest quarter of section 4 where Partshie had settled, about two miles from the Blocher home. Here, in the middle of winter, Daniel Speicher and John Flickinger dug the grave using a shovel and an axe.

Since no materials to build a coffin could be obtained nearer than Wooster, it was determined that the coffin would be fashioned from the sideboards of the wagon in which Blocher had recently emigrated from Pennsylvania. Phillip Leasure, an edge tool mechanic, dismantled the needed boards from the wagon box and did the carpentry work to build the casket, while John Jacob Kieffer, a blacksmith, went home to make the nails.

On the second day after Partshie's death, a few neighbors gathered at the Blocher home and proceeded to the site of the burial.

According to D.L. Kieffer's account of the funeral, the party, which included Partshie's aged mother, solemnly carried the coffin on hand spikes through the forest and underbrush to the grave. Phillip Leasure gave the prayer, and then all joined in singing a hymn.

On April 18, 1818, the newly elected township trustees divided the township through the center, east and west, creating two road districts of equal size, the south half under the supervision of David Burgan being District Number One, and the north half under Jacob Kieffer as road supervisor in District Number Two.

The first public road to be opened was the Portage Road in the northwest part of the township. The second road in the southern part of the township was known initially as the Wooster and Kindle (probably Kendal; today Massillon) Road.

Source: "History of Smithville & Surrounding Area" by Joseph Irvin

Sunday: Even short trips were dangerous

Reporter Paul Locher can be reached at 330-682-2055 or plocher@the-daily-record.com.